Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management server, a connection support method, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a connection support program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a management server which supports communications between a device located outside a firewall and a device located inside the firewall, a connection support method which is executed by the management server, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a connection support program which is executed by the management server.
Description of the Related Art
A multi-function peripheral (hereinafter, referred to as “MFP”) which is connected to a local area network (LAN) may be controlled by using a service provided from a cloud server which is connected to the Internet. For example, an MFP may be caused to print data stored in a cloud server. However, it is often the case that an MFP is connected to a LAN and the LAN is connected to the Internet via a firewall. Therefore, an access from the cloud server to the MFP may be blocked by the firewall.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-063944 discloses a print server which includes: a list request receiving unit which receives a printer list request from a client terminal; an acquisition unit which sends a status acquisition request to a printer and acquires the status indicating whether the printer is available for printing; and a sending unit which sends, to the client terminal that has sent the printer list request, data of a printer list described in a format for display on a Web browser of the client terminal, using the status of the printer that has been acquired by the acquisition unit. When the status of the printer cannot be acquired in the acquisition unit, the sending unit sends the data of the printer list by adding thereto a command which allows the Web browser of the client terminal to inquire the status of the printer whose status has not been acquired.
In the conventional printing system, however, the client terminal needs to be connected to a LAN to which the printer is connected. Further, since the client terminal has to perform the processing that should be originally performed by the print server it takes time to acquire the data of the printer list, and there is a problem of a delayed response.